Album review: The Low Anthem – ‘Oh My God, Charlie Darwin’

Album review: The Low Anthem - 'Oh My God, Charlie Darwin'

Score

Just don't mention Fl**t F*x*s

Those who’ve had an allergic reaction to the past year’s glut of falsetto folk-rock should dose themselves up on Piriton and give The Low Anthem a try. They may be faultless at recreating the delicate sound of Neil Young lightly treading on to Bruce Springsteen’s New Jersey patch – as proven on ‘Charlie Darwin’ – but they also know their way around a rowdy barroom where bottles smash at the feet of a pissed-up bluegrass Arcade Fire (‘Home I’ll Never Be’). ‘Champion Angel’ steps things up via dirty harmonica and Tom Petty riffs, and ‘Ticket Taker’ could be a Nashville Leonard Cohen. A welcome addition to the intricate patchwork quilt of the new wave of Americana.